2023-07-02 10:31:13
With Toprak Razgatlioglu joining BMW after this season, Yamaha is creating a vacuum that will be difficult to fill. Because since 2020 the Turk is the only one who has won races for Yamaha. The Japanese manufacturer has only won the riders’ title twice in the Superbike World Championship, which was founded in 1988: in 2009 with Ben Spies and in 2021 with Razgatlioglu.
Yamaha’s road racing manager Andrea Dosoli is pursuing three approaches in order to find an adequate successor for Toprak.
His ideal scenario would be if he could fill the spot with a driver from his own ranks. If Andrea Locatelli, whose factory contract was extended until the end of 2025 in May, started winning, Dosoli could risk bringing in two-time Supersport champion Domi Aegerter from Giansanti Racing Team, who is having a good rookie season and is currently eighth in the factory team rating is.
Locatelli may be consistent, finishing fourth and fifth in the world championship in his first two years in Superbike and currently third, but has only clinched 11 podiums and no win yet.
Dosoli is aware: Neither Locatelli nor Aegerter will be able to fill Razgatlioglu’s huge footsteps in 2024.
Option number 2 is for Yamaha factory rider Franco Morbidelli to switch from the MotoGP to the Superbike World Championship. He attended the SBK event in Misano at the beginning of June and looked at everything, but let Dosoli understand that he still had an open account in the MotoGP World Championship and that he currently had no thoughts on a change.
Morbidelli has been a Yamaha rider since 2019 and became runner-up the year after. He has been in the factory team since 2021 and is also up for discussion there for 2024 as a teammate of seeded Fabio Quartararo – the outcome is uncertain.
“Morbido”, who, like many other fast Italians, comes from Valentino Rossi’s VR46 Academy, could also imagine switching to the Gresini team and a fast Ducati, where Fabio Di Giannantonio will lose his place. However, talents such as Tony Arbolino and Pedro Acosta from the Moto2 World Championship are pushing their way – at Gresini they will think twice about whether to back one of the two youngsters or the 29-year-old Morbidelli.
Dosoli can’t wait forever for Morbidelli’s decision as his third option is charismatic 12-time Superbike race winner and former runner-up (riding Ducati) Scott Redding, who has an option for a further two years with BMW, which he can complete at the latest on April 15 July 2023 if he wants to stay there. For the Englishman, Yamaha is the only alternative to BMW. If he doesn’t get a confirmation from Dosoli by then, he will extend the contract with the propeller brand.
Morbidelli is unsure of his MotoGP future and has yet to give Dosoli a definitive refusal.
Because there are also arguments in favor of moving to the Superbike World Championship. Yamaha is struggling in the premier class this year and the gap to Ducati is huge. Quartararo, who became world champion in 2021 with the M1 and runner-up last year, has only third place this season after 16 races and is ninth in the World Championship – Morbido is eleventh.
In the near-series World Championship, Morbidelli could fight for podium places and victories again, he would like the more relaxed atmosphere in the SBK paddock. And don’t forget: In Yamaha’s Superbike factory team, he would earn significantly more money than in the MotoGP private team Gresini Ducati.
“Replacing a driver like Toprak is incredibly difficult,” Dosoli told SPEEDWEEK.com face-to-face at Donington Park. “That’s why we want to make the right choice.”
The Italian said of Redding: “He did well in his first two years in the Superbike World Championship and fought for the title. He’s also reasonably young and no one forgets how he fights for podiums. He’s struggling this season and last, but I think he deserves to return to the top.”
Besides Morbidelli, only Di Giannantonio and Augusto Fernandez (now with GASGAS) have to fear for their MotoGP place and could be considered for a Superbike place. Di Giannantonio is out of the question at Yamaha as he considers returning to the Moto2 World Championship.
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